Ready for Launch

Ready for Launch

Article excerpt

The hottest German-language projects in the works from celebrated veterans and talented newcomers.Die Andere Heimat [pictured]

Dir Edgar Reitz

Veteran German director Reitz -- who turns 80 on November 1 -- revisits the fictional village of Schabbach, the setting for his internationally acclaimed Heimat TV series, in this feature prequel.

While the Heimat series were set in the 20th century, Die Andere Heimat takes place between 1840-43 when thousands from Germany's Hunsrück region emigrated to Brazil to escape famine and poverty. Principal photography on the $9.8m ([euro]7.9m) co-production between Munich-based Edgar Reitz Film-produktion and France's Les Films du Losange wrapped on August 21.

The three-hour epic will be released in German cinemas in summer 2013 by Concorde Film and might premiere beforehand in Cannes.

Contact ARRI Worldsales - mhemminger@arri.deThe German Friend

Dir Jeanine Meerapfel

Meerapfel's first feature since Anna's Summer in 2001, The German Friend weaves autobiographical elements into a love story about Sulamit, the daughter of German-Jewish immigrants growing up in Buenos Aires in the 1950s, and Friedrich, a German boy whose parents escaped to Argentina after the war. When Friedrich learns his father was an SS lieutenant colonel in Nazi Germany, he breaks off all contact and returns to Germany. Celeste Cid and Max Riemelt star as the thwarted lovers. The film had its market premiere in July at the German Films Previews in Hamburg and is a co-production between Meerapfel's Malena Filmproduktion, Geissendörfer Film & Fernsehproduktion and Argentina's Jempsa.

Premiering in Toronto as a Special Presentation, the latest from veteran film-maker von Trotta follows German-Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt's life of exile in New York and the controversy surrounding her coining of the phrase "banality of evil" to describe Adolf Eichmann's actions as a member of the Nazi regime. German actress Barbara Sukowa plays Arendt, collaborating with von Trotta for the seventh time after such films as Rosa Luxemburg, which screened in Competition at Cannes in 1986, where Sukowa was named best actress. Also starring Janet McTeer, Axel Milberg, Julia Jentsch and Ulrich Noethen, Hannah Arendt was written by von Trotta and Pamela Katz and is a co-production by Germany's Heimatfilm with France, Luxembourg and Israel.

Contact The Match Factory - michael.weber@matchfactory.deLayla Fourie

Dir Pia Marais

Berlin-based director Marais drew acclaim for her first two features, The Unpolished and At Ellen's Age, with the former winning a Tiger at Rotterdam in 2007. …